Today, we'll be going over different tools to stop tossing & turning, things you can do if you can't sleep. Last week for Thanksgiving, I published a special blog where I showed you a very touching video. I shed a tear every time I watch this short film, and my guess is you may have as well! If you missed it, check it out HERE.

Today, back to our regular schedule: Part number six of the Sleep Series. You know that moment where you're in bed, tossing & turning because you can't fall asleep? Either you can't seem to go to sleep, or maybe you can't go BACK to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night. There actually are lots of helpful things you can try in the moment. Watch the video or read the full blog below for more...

The most common cause of not being able to sleep is because people are using their logical minds to think. There are things that are keeping you awake. The very first time that it happens, you have to acknowledge what it is that is troubling you. Then, you can use this information to give a job to your personal assistant.

Tell them: "Hey, while I sleep peacefully all night, why don't you, in the background, while I sleep, you go and think about that? Why don't you go and review everything that I know about this, and tomorrow morning, you can give me an answer?"

Your personal assistant, also called your unconscious mind, can process 2.3 million pieces of information every second. Your unconscious mind doesn't sleep. Before you go to bed, tell your personal assistant what you want them to do for you during the night: "Hey, I want to have a really good night's sleep, but here are some things that I would like you to prepare for me while I sleep, so that it's ready to go tomorrow morning."

For example, if I have an article to write, I tell my personal assistant: "Why don't you review and prepare my article for me while I sleep?"

What if you have a brilliant idea? I personally do trust my personal assistant to remind me the next day. I say: "Okay, I have this brilliant idea. And I want to make sure that I remember it tomorrow morning. So why don't you write it down and remind me tomorrow? When I sit in front of my computer and I have my agenda in front of me, remind me of this thing." If you're not too sure about trusting your personal assistant with things like this yet, keep some post-its and a pen beside your bed and write it down. That way, you know it doesn't have to keep you awake anymore because it has been written down.

I recommend a piece of paper over your phone, because as we have talked about previously, we know we should reduce our screen time and that it's better not to sleep beside our phone. My phone never leaves my office. Sure, I use it to talk on the phone and when I'm outside of the house, if I need it, but lately, I have actually been keeping my phone in my office even when I go grocery shopping. I'm not a brain surgeon that people need immediately. It's very freeing not to have my phone with me at all times.

Remember what happens during a sleep cycle? We went over the different stages of a cycle in part two of the Sleep Series.  You go from stage one, the act of falling asleep, to stage two, light sleep. Your breathing slows down, your muscles relax, your heart rate slows down and you start twitching. Remember?

 Well, what you can do is induce yourself into stage two of your sleep cycle by pretending that it is already happening. It's kind of like trying to trick your brain into thinking that you're already into the light sleep stage, even though you're consciously awake.

Here's how it goes: You focus on your breathing to slow it down. You relax every single muscle, starting with extremities. You relax the tip of your fingers, the tip of your toes, and then, you work in. Every time you breathe in and out, you focus on feeling your breath through your brain, through your chest, through your heart, through your stomach, through all your limbs. Then, you exhale all the tension of the day. You can even create the twitch! Another thing you can do is put your tongue on the roof of your mouth, right behind your teeth, to help open your jaw and relax your face.

I bet your brain is going to think: "Oh! Are we falling asleep? I didn't know. Okay, then."

There are tons of amazing meditations that you can find online. HERE 's some I particularly like by Dr Joe Dispenza.  Soft, relaxing music can help as well. White noise is another option. It doesn't matter what you choose to listen to, but ideally, you'd listen to it from an external device, and not from headphones, to avoid having something plugged into your ears.

Have you ever woken up feeling like you're a little hungry, like there's a little void in your stomach that just needs to be filled? Well, we're normally not really hungry during the night. We're hungry for salt. If you have low levels of sodium or minerals, your blood volume can decrease, so then your sympathetic nervous system is going to activate in order to compensate for that lack of sodium. This is what causes sleepers to wake up more often and have difficulty going back to sleep.

Now, let's be really clear here. Most people have too much salt in their diet. I'm not saying that you should eat more salt during the day. Do not start eating more salt. What I'm saying is that in that moment, in the middle of the night, what you may need is three or four grains of salt.

Here's what I do: I pour a few grains of real sea salt (I love THIS ONE) in the palm of my hand, and in the other hand, dab a little bit of olive oil on my finger. Then I dip my finger in the salt, and lick it. That's just enough salt to help reestablish your sodium levels.

Very quick crash course about salt: White salt is not the solution here, because what you're really craving is the magnesium that's in unwashed salt like grey sea salt. Iodized salt has been treated to remove its moisture so that it can go through the holes of your saltshaker. Think about it: Iodized salt cannot absorb moisture, so it will stay dry. When it gets inside your body, the water in your body is not going to make it soluble, so it's going to get stuck in your arteries. All the salt that is in the processed food that we buy is the wrong kind of salt, it's iodized salt. To reduce your sodium intake, try to eat things that don't have any salt in them, but if you do want salty food, add it yourself: a good grey sea salt.

Of course, some foods have sodium and fat in them, like feta cheese, for example, but as we previously stated, it's not quite the right kind of salt. That's why I go straight to a good olive oil and good sea salt.

Next week, we will be talking about some tools you can use to cope when you had a bad night's sleep. On the menu: Lots of different fun facts about sleep and things that you can do after you sleep in order to get through the day. See you next time!

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• Powerful Questions to Implement Your Knowledge

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